BART One of 'Top Ten' Projects of the Century.

News & Business Editors/Transportation Writers

OAKLAND, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Sept. 11, 2000

The American Public Works Association has named BART one of the Top Ten Public Works Projects of the 20th Century in the United States and Canada.

"The complexity and importance of the BART project cannot be overemphasized," the APWA wrote, calling BART the "epitome of modern rapid transit systems" that incorporates "the most advanced technologies."

Hailing BART as "the first modern subway system in North America," the association said BART "introduced electronic systems into what had been a mechanical railroad technology based system."

The extraordinary honor was announced at the APWA's 2000 International Public Works Congress and Exposition on Sunday, Sept. 10, in Louisville, Ky. -- on the eve of BART's 28th anniversary of service in the Bay Area. BART's fleet of electric-powered trains went into operation on Sept. 11, 1972. BART Board President Thomas Blalock was present for the announcement.

The APWA award cites several of BART's trailblazing innovations, including:

-- being the first computer-supervised train control system -- in the world;

-- pioneering the Automatic Train Control system and magnetic fare cards;

-- the 3.6-mile Transbay Tube that "revolutionized transportation" in the Bay
Area and "provided the only direct means of transportation between San
Francisco and Oakland" in the month following the 1989 Loma Prieta Earthquake;

-- BART's energy efficient operation and its positive impact on the environment
and economy of the region;

-- "sleek vehicles and stations that were architecturally sensitive to the
communities in which they are located."

BART Board President Tom Blalock, a retired civil engineer, said: "Being selected as one of the 10 most outstanding public works projects of the past century of American history brings on a sense of deja vu. In the beginning of my engineering career, with the City of Sunnyvale back in the 1950s, I tried to convince officials that BART was more than just a train system. I said that BART was -- and this honor shows that it still is -- a marvel of modern engineering and that it would become the cornerstone of modern train transportation.

Blalock went on to become Director of Public Works for the City of Fremont.

"To have been singled out as both the pioneer in modern urban rail systems and the foundation upon which many systems in the U.S. and around the world are based is a compliment to the people of the Bay Area who built and support their BART, to the engineers who designed and built BART, and to the current and past employees of BART who have kept BART in the forefront of modern transportation," Blalock added. He may be contacted at 510/490-7565.

The award also acknowledges the "revolutionary decision" by the voters of the three counties that make up the BART District (Alameda, Contra Costa and San Francisco) "to tax themselves to build an entirely new transit system." And it notes that "BART's influence has been felt far beyond the Bay area region. The BART system, including the world's first computer-supervised train control system, advanced the cutting edge technology of mass transit operations within the U.S. and became the model to be followed by others."

BART General Manager Thomas E. Margro, who also is an engineer, said the announcement of the award "is a breath-taking honor. When you look back across the past 100 years and the incredible public works projects that were built in the United States and Canada -- the bridges, the dams, the interstate highways, not to mention other urban transit systems -- this is truly a proud and humbling moment. BART is part of a select group. We are all deeply honored."

The other "Top Ten Public Works Projects of the Twentieth Century"
named by the APWA are:

    Golden Gate Bridge
    Grand Coulee Dam & Columbia Basin Project
    Hoover Dam - Boulder Canyon
    Hyperion Treatment Plant, Los Angeles
    Interstate Highway System
    Panama Canal (Panama was a U.S.-possession at the time of
     construction)
    Reversal of the Chicago River
    St. Lawrence Seaway/Power Project
    Tennessee Valley Project (TVA)

BART has received several engineering awards over the years, including: American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) Pioneering Design and Construction Award (1977); ASCE San Francisco Section Award for Outstanding Civil Engineering Achievement (1977); American Iron and Steel Institute's Engineering Excellence in Public Works-Design in Steel Citation (1971).

And in 1997, the American Society of Mechanical Engineers declared BART a "Historical Mechanical Engineering Landmark," calling it "the prototype for most modern rail transit systems."